Jobless rates in Fayette, Coweta show slight drop

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 9:55amBen Nelms

Unemployment figures for October show jobless numbers for Coweta and Fayette counties inching down again. Fayette’s jobless rate dropped to 7.1 percent for the month while the rate in Coweta fell to 7.5 percent.

Information supplied by the Ga. Dept. of Labor showed Fayette with a jobless rate of 7.1 percent, down from the 7.3 percent rate in September and significantly less than the 8.1 percent rate a year ago. Fayette’s workforce totals 53,753 people, of which 8,821 were out of work in October.

Coweta County in October saw a similar drop in jobless numbers. The 7.7 percent rate in September fell to 7.5 percent in October. That compares to the 8.7 percent rate one year ago. Coweta has a workforce of 64,059, of which 4,816 were listed as unemployed in October.

The unemployment rate in Peachtree City also dropped in October. The 6.9 percent rate in September gave way to a rate of 6.6 percent in October. The rate just a year ago was 7.2 percent.

The jobless rate in Newnan held steady at 8.6 percent in October. But it was only a year ago that the unemployment rate was 9.9 percent.

Unemployment across the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area that includes Fayette County had an October rate of 8.3 percent. The number was down from the 8.4 percent rate in September and the 9.4 percent rate in October 2011. The ARC area has a workforce of more than 2.1 million people.

The jobless picture in the 10-county Three Rivers Commission area that includes Coweta County looked the same in October, with jobless numbers holding at 9.1 percent. While high, those numbers are a far cry from the 10.4 percent rate seen a year ago.

And in the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, the unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in September fell slightly to 8.2 percent in October. The rate a year ago was 9.4 percent.

Statewide, Georgia’s unemployment rate decreased slightly from 8.6 percent in September to 8.5 percent in October. Georgia has a workforce of 4.8 million.